By Derek Schmidt
Remember Bush v. Gore?

That was the name of the landmark legal decision in which a slim 5 to 4 majority of the United States Supreme Court determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in Florida. It’s the decision that made George W. Bush president of the United States.

Now, eight years later, Bush v. Gore is something else — it’s the reason many people in small Kansas towns must travel out of town in order to vote at the polls on Election Day.

You see, after the 2000 Florida election debacle, and the deciding lawsuit, Congress stepped in. In an effort to whip state-run election systems into shape, Congress did what it so often does - it adopted a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that, in turn, creates all sorts of new problems.

The law Congress enacted was the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). It regulates many aspects of state elections. When HAVA was implemented in Kansas, it made the operation of low-volume polling places in tiny towns across Kansas more burdensome, more expensive and eventually too difficult to maintain.

So scores of tiny towns lost their polling places. Now, those citizens either have to plan ahead and vote by mail or they have to travel to a nearby bigger town, usually the county seat, to cast their ballots.

That’s just wrong. It shouldn’t be harder to vote just because one lives in a little town.

But in this year’s election, that will change in some small towns.

For all practical purposes, some of these towns will get their polling places back - sort of.

It’s called “satellite voting,” and it was authorized when the legislature passed Senate Bill 65 earlier this year (I voted for it).

Previously, the big Kansas counties have used satellite voting to set up “satellite” locations where people can cast an advance ballot in person before Election Day. Now, it can be used in rural areas, too.

Here’s how it works:
Each county election officer - usually the county clerk - now has authority to establish “satellite voting” locations in the county.

These are places where a voter can go, in person, at a certain day and time to cast an advance ballot. It’s the equivalent of going in person to the clerk’s office at the courthouse before Election Day to cast your advance ballot, a convenient procedure that has been in place now for several years.

Satellite voting sites seem, in most regards, like a regular polling place, except they are open before Election Day rather than on it.

They’re like a “satellite” branch of the county clerk’s office open for a short time in smaller towns in the county.

It’s up to the local election officer to decide whether to use satellite voting in a county and, if so, which locations get it. So if you’re in a small town that has lost its polling place since Bush v. Gore, it might be worth your effort to call your county clerk to findout if satellite voting will now be coming to you.

As always, I appreciate knowing what’s on your mind. The best way to reach me is through my Topeka office at the State Capitol, Room 390-E, Topeka, Kansas 66612 or by phone at 785 296-2497.

You can also e-mail me through my website at www.DerekSchmidt.com.

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